A couple of weeks ago I was preparing to give my talk at St. Andrew’s Church Cafe for their Open Door event. Now I can hardly believe it – whoosh! – like an express train it’s flashed past in an instant and now it’s  gone! I must say I really enjoyed the evening; twenty or so people piled into the cafe inside the beautiful church, including a very distinguished guest: Councillor Ramesh Srivastava, The Mayor of Rugby.

During the evening I read passages from my second novel The Forgiving Sand alongside telling the story of my life in Cornwall, its ups and downs, the characters I met, artists and fishermen, my successes and my failures. Members of the audience told me they were touched by how I related experiences in my own life to those in the book and how it made the talk unique and personal.

As you can see in the photo above, I also took along a display of items for people to look at while refreshments were served: some of my pottery and paintings inspired by St.Ives, some books I used for research into Deep Sea Fishing around the Cornish coast, a few copies of The Forgiving Sand and a copy of my first published novel: The Sea Inside His Head. (About a coal-miner during the National Coal Strike of 1984).

As the wine was poured I was able to meet people and discuss the origins of my novel. I must say a big ‘Thank you’ to St.Andrew’s Church in Rugby for inviting me to talk, and thank you to all those who came and made me feel so welcome.